10 Signs You Are Not Drinking Enough Water

Many of us go without adequate amount of water throughout the day and don’t even realize the importance of staying hydrated until our health starts suffering.

Water is the elixir of life and having 2-3 litres of water a day is vital to remain healthy. A lot of celebrities too have vouched for the adequate amount of water intake on a daily basis to get a glowing skin and healthy hair. But a lot of us might take it for granted. Two-thirds of the human body is made up of water; so while you can go without food for a couple of days, skipping water out of your diet will have adverse effects on your health.

Here are 10 alarming signs of water deficiency in your body that you should pay attention to.

1. Your Mouth Feels Dry
One of the most visible ramifications of the low intake of water is dryness around the mouth. Chapped lips and dry skin are an indication of dehydration. When you feel dehydrated, grab a bottle of water rather than opting for aerated drinks or other sugary fluids. Water helps in keeping your mouth moist by lubricating the mucus membranes in your mouth and throat.

2. Skin Breakouts
You should keep your skin, the largest body part, healthy by having enough water. If your skin doesn’t receive adequate hydration, you will not sweat, which in turn means an accumulation of dirt and oil in your body. So, have 2-3 litres of water every day to steer clear of skin breakouts.

3. Joint Pain
Water is extremely essential to help your body absorb sudden knee-jerk movements like jumping and running. How? Well, our cartilage and spinal discs are made up of almost 80% water, which prevents our bones from grinding against each other when we take every step to walk. So if you feel a sudden joint water, your first recourse should be to grab a bottle of water and go for bottoms-up.

4. Weight Gain
When your body feels a little dehydrated, it may send out signals of hunger rather than thirst. Sometimes, the body won’t tell you that you need water by inducing the feeling of a dry throat, but you might rather start feeling hunger pangs instead. A sedentary person may end up eating rather than drinking water when he/she feels dehydrated. This would eventually lead to weight gain.The body needs enough water to flush out the toxins from your body. And in order to release the fat toxins from your body, all you have to do is drink enough water throughout the day to feed the tissues and cells in your body, which gets the enzymatic system moving. Hydrating yourself well will keep you fresh and improve your metabolism, thereby paving way to cut the excess flab from the body.

5. Pre-mature Ageing
Water intake must increase with age as water retention decreases with age. You skin will start looking dull and wrinkles will become much visible before time if you don’t keep yourself hydrated. While the damage on the outside will be a big blow to your self-esteem, the internal damage will be even worse. So, don’t neglect something as simple as having water throughout the day.

6. Your Urine is Dark Yellow in Colour
First of all, going to the washroom six to seven times a day not a cause of concern, rather it is pretty fine. But if you are visiting just once, that is a problem. Moreover, if your urine is clear or light yellow in colour, it is a sign of a hydrated and healthy body. But in case you suffer for dehydration, your urine will turn dark yellow to warn you. Increase your water intake right away if your urine is dark yellow in colour. In extreme cases, dehydration leads to urinary tract infections.

7. Constipation
Water lubricates your digestive system and if you don’t stay hydrated enough, you will suffer from constipation. The intestine requires water to catalyze the process of digestion but if you stay dehydrated, that water gets used up by colon instead. So, don’t push your body to the extreme and consume enough water to replenish your body with minerals throughout the day.

8. Fatigue and Lethargy
In the state of dehydration, your body is forced to borrow water from the blood, which in turn reduces oxygen in the body. And when the daily requirement of oxygen in the body is not met with, the body gets feeling fatigued and sleepy. Lack of water in the body reduces the stamina of the body and induces lethargy much earlier in the day.

9. Bloodshot eyes
Dehydration dries up your tear ducts, leading to bloodshot eyes. If you feel that your eyes are dry and you may not have tears even if you feel like crying, its a cause of concern. Dryness in the eyes can harm your eyes adversely, especially if you use contact lenses.

10. Recurring Sickness
When your body doesn’t require adequate amount of water daily, your organs start using water stored in areas like blood. This causes health problems and you might end up falling ill quite often. Dehydration fiddles with the process of detoxification and waste materials find it difficult to find a way out from your body. You need to fuel your body with a lot of water so that the toxins are flushed out of the body and there is enough water left for other organs to carry out their daily function properly. You can also consume detox water in case you feel like adding a bit of flavour to water. All you have to do is add cucumber, mint, ginger and lemon to drinking water and sip it every few minutes to stay hydrated.